Facebook finds the town too Effin rude for site

For most people adding the name of where they live on Facebook is relatively straightforward. A problem, however, arises when the place where you live is branded as offensive by the social networking site. One woman from Effin in County Limerick in the Irish Republic has so far been unable to add the village name to the 'home place' section of her Facebook profile.

Ann Marie Kennedy, who works in the department of nursing and midwifery at the University of Limerick, has now started an online campaign to to get Effin recognised. "I was born and raised in Effin and my family come from here," she said. "I am also directing a play, 'Effin Cinderella' this Christmas.

"I would like to be able to put Effin on my profile page and so would many other Effin people around the world to proudly say that they are from Effin, County Limerick, but it won't recognise that," she added. "It just won't let me add it. It just keeps giving suggestions such as Effingham, Illinois; Effingham, New Hampshire."

She said: "I'm a proud Effin woman and I always will be an Effin woman." The 47-year-old Effin native has now started an online campaign, although an attempt to set up a Facebook page called 'Please get my hometown Effin recognised' was also unsuccessful. "It came up with an error message that it was 'offensive'," she said.